2019 set to be a watershed year for public sector cloud adoption

Agilisys, the leading cloud and digital transformation specialist to the public sector, has released new findings from a recent survey examining the state of cloud adoption in the UK.

The Harnessing the Cloud report, which surveyed more than 200 govtech leaders responsible for cloud services and technology transformation, suggests 2019 will be a watershed year for the public sector as 80% of organisations plan to migrate core IT infrastructure to the cloud in the next 18 months. But with only 28% currently using cloud for core IT infrastructure, a significant task lies ahead.

The report suggests that in order to meet these cloud ambitions, organisations are already gearing up with four-fifths (81%) having invested in additional training to develop specific cloud capabilities and skills amongst their workforce. Nevertheless, capacity and capability shortfalls remain, with two-thirds (63%) regarding third-party assistance as essential during cloud implementation and optimisation.

Drawing comparisons with a similar survey conducted in 2016, the results paint an overall picture of rapidly accelerating cloud adoption, amid growing confidence and awareness of the enormous opportunities the cloud presents.

While the challenges to cloud adoption remain the same as 2016, they’re now seen as much more surmountable. Despite the gap in internal capabilities, cloud confidence is growing and fears surrounding migration, management and security have all fallen.

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Cloud is also seen as opening up new opportunities, with respondents pointing to both health (76%) and social care (77%) as the areas where service quality is poised to be most transformed by cloud capabilities. This move is likely to be influenced by the recent “tech vision” set out for the NHS, which will see all records move to public cloud platforms, and the Home Office’s stated desire to migrate all national-level police IT onto AWS.

Commenting on the findings, Sean Grimes, Managing Director of Cloud & IT at Agilisys, said: “The report shows that cloud adoption rates across the public sector have risen dramatically since 2016, indicating that any previous fears and uncertainties have been dispelled. Organisations now understand adoption is critical to driving service transformation and they’re moving faster than ever to capitalise on new cloud capabilities.

“Our research also shows that organisations believe cloud is key to unlocking innovation across the public sector, with many respondents seeing it an essential platform to leverage emerging technologies such as IoT, data & analytics, AI and robotics, which will revolutionise services for the future. And while cost reduction is an increasingly important driver, it’s the cloud’s ability to improve capabilities (88%) that’s now the deciding factor, which is really encouraging.

“Of course, the right skills and experience are crucial to making cloud transformation a success. With demand accelerating, we’ll likely see more organisations leaning on private sector partnerships to support their cloud ambitions, or to transfer essential skills. Indeed, growing awareness that there are proven paths for success and third-party experts ready to help may explain today’s confidence in cloud.”

Click here to download ‘Harnessing the cloud 2018, 2020 Cloud Vision: The end of fear, uncertainty and doubt?’.